


When will you be home, Arthur?

by RunningRace



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Arthur needs space, Gen, I'm sad for arthur, cowboy conversations, thoughtful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:15:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23646019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RunningRace/pseuds/RunningRace
Summary: Arthur is struggling to sit still in camp and in an effort not to go stir-crazy, he escapes from the camp on a trip for himself.This story is inspired by a scene that can occur if you spend too much time away from camp and Dutch sends someone (in this case, Charles) out looking for Arthur.
Relationships: Arthur Morgan & Charles Smith, Arthur Morgan/Charles Smith
Comments: 2
Kudos: 81





	When will you be home, Arthur?

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is a story I wrote awhile ago but never ended up posting... I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Here's a link to that scene I mentioned in the summary - I'm pretty sure I seen that and then wrote this directly after.
> 
> https://www.reddit.com/r/reddeadredemption/comments/9zqe7k/ive_never_seen_this_interaction_before_after_not/

Arthur packs up his horse for a trip - but this time, he's packing a lot. It looks like he's packed almost all of his possessions, his lodgings looks bare and empty and Arthur silently broods while he's saddling up his horse with his stuff.

Dutch makes a comment and questions Arthur about how much he's taking with him. "Where ya off to, Arthur? You ain't running off on us like ol' John did to us now?" Dutch is looking to get under Arthur's skin. That's the only way to make him talk it seems nowadays - uncomfortable or angry. Arthur glares at Dutch for his comment before huffing "Goin' out to check on some leads. Gonna try and do some hunting too for the camp. The people are far apart and one's a hunter - gonna take me some time to track them down and deal with 'em." The response seems solid enough and it checks with how much Arthur has packed up, but Dutch is still suspicious. "Oh, well if you're going out lead and animal hunting! Why don't you take Hosea with you? I'm sure your trip would go quicker, and Hosea could always use a good ride." Dutch smiles at Arthur as he gestures widely when he's talking. The smile doesn't quite reach his eyes. In return, Arthur holds his ground. "M'good on my own, besides, I ain't dragging Hosea around half the damn county for you just because. I'm already packed to go, don't want to waste time." Arthur's eyes are sharp but he keeps his tone warm and confident, an effort on behalf of keeping Dutch happy.

"Ohh alright Arthur! You just be careful on the trip of yours, hear? Don't need to be sending anyone around half the damn county lookin' for you if you get in trouble." Dutch mocks Arthur in his own words and rolls his eyes, skeptical. Luckily though, Arthur's words were enough to get Dutch to leave him alone and he turns and strides off. Arthur gets back to tying up his stuff and prepares to leave. He mounts his horse and takes a moment to stare at the camp. He looks from person to person, soaking it all in. After his pause, Arthur gives his horse a kick and they start down the trail leading out of camp. On his way out, he passes Charles, who's on guard duty.

"You headin' out?," Charles calls out to him as his horse walks by. "Yeah." Arthur huffs, after his conversation with Dutch he's not in the mood to talk to anyone else who might question him about his stuff. He kicks his horse into a fast trot to get past Charles as quickly as he can.

"Alright then, stay safe out there." Charles yells out, brows furrowed in curiosity as Arthur rushes off from camp. Charles can sense something was off with Arthur, but the man vanishes far too quickly for him to pinpoint what it was.

\--

Arthur has been gone for a week. It may not seem like a long time - but for a man who's never been gone for more than a couple of days from camp, people are worried. They're making comments, wondering about him. Around the campfire when they're chatting about their daily musings, Arthur comes up. "Hey there, Javier. Have you seen Arthur anywhere?" The Spanish man looks up from his guitar. "No. I haven't. He hasn't been around a bit now, has he?"

They're not a point of full-blown concern and worry about Arthur just yet, but with each day passing, they're getting closer. Mary-beth makes a comment to Karen and Tilly about him just seeming to ride off into the night, but to her it's almost romantic. Susan grumbles about him and how he better be pulling his weight out there, but silently she stares off into the woods - watching for him to ride back into camp. Charles doesn't say much about the matter, but the last encounter he had with Arthur hangs in the back of his head. Dutch doesn't do much about it the first couple of days, he didn't fully buy Arthur's story about tracking down leads but he didn't have much to not trust the man, so he just waits. It's not until Hosea voices his concern that Dutch decides to take action. "Hey Dutch, you know where Arthur ran off to?", The older man greets his friend but his tone is full of concern - classic Hosea. "No. No, I haven't. Said he went off to track some leads last time I saw him. Rode out of here with half the damn camp packed on his horse." Dutch's tone of skepticism gives away his concern as well. Hosea's brows furrow as he takes a second to think. Arthur isn't one to get into trouble, but this behavior wasn't like him at all. "Why don't we send someone to look for him?" Hosea glances up at Dutch, who seems to disregard the question. "Hosea! Quit ya' worrying. I'm sure he's fine..." Dutch trails off, he doesn't really have a reason to believe that Arthur is fine at all. Hosea senses his uncertainty and grabs onto it. "What'd be the harm in finding that out then? I'm sure you've heard everyone chatting about it in camp. Sending someone out and finding out that he's still just alive will be enough. We can send Charles, he'll be able to track him down." Hosea steadies his voice and asserts himself to Dutch. After holding his own for a moment, Dutch gives into Hosea and his plan. The longer Arthur is out there, the more people will worry and the less they'll be able to focus and get shit done. "Okay, Hosea. Go ahead and tell Charles to go find that man where ever he is and drag him back here if he has to."

Hosea gives Dutch once more glance before turning to leave, "Okay, Dutch." He walks off to go find Charles.

Charles is sitting by the scout campfire out on the edge of camp when Hosea comes strolling up to him. He stands up as he sees him approach and brushes himself off. "Hosea." His voice is deep and calm. "Hey there Charles, I got a favor to ask of you." Hosea nods to the man as he starts talking, "Dutch and I need you to go out and look for Arthur. People are starting to worry. If you could just go out and see that he's doing okay - we'd all appreciate it, very much." Charles listens intently to Hosea as he talks. "Sure thing, I'll head out and start tracking him."

Charles begins to head out to grab his horse and Hosea calls out to him as he's walking away. "Thanks Charles."

Charles throws his hand up and answers back "No problem."

\---

Arthur is sitting by a small fire he has going. He's in the woods and his horse is hitched to a tree. It's been a while since he left camp, about a week and a couple of days he believes, but that doesn't bother Arthur. Dutch has been acting more and more crazy by the day - he's less himself than ever it seems. It's been coming for awhile now, Dutch's attitude has been changing little by little ever since the Blackwater incident and Arthur has been stuck as a passenger on the ride. Although Arthur would never abandon the camp, like John did, he just found himself itching to get away for a while. His hunting trips before always seemed far too short and the amount of chaos back at camp seemed to be catching up closer to him every time he returned to camp. People were always breathing down his neck, questioning him, arguing with him, and crowding him. Arthur felt like he couldn't breath, and he just had to get out of camp for a while.

When Dutch caught him trying to scurry out of camp, he had to make up an excuse as to why he was leaving. He couldn't just tell him that he didn't want to be around anymore. That thought hurt just as much as it was true for Arthur.

Now here he was, camping out in the woods all by himself. He hadn't done much lead hunting at all since he left camp, he'd just been riding his horse around the country, admiring the beauty of nature. It was nice to be out here and somewhere deep down in him, Arthur knew he truly belonged to the wild. Not the wild life of an outlaw that Dutch had him running, but out in the true woods with the creatures is where Arthur felt most at home nowadays.

A crackle of leaves in the distance pulls Arthur out of his thoughts. His cold eyes dart up to scan the dark edge of the woods and his hand lays on his rifle. Arthur's horse flicks an ear up as well, the leaves continue to rustle.

There's movement in the brush and a figure shows up in the dark, Arthur grips his gun and goes to stand up when a familiar voice rings out into the dark.

"You're a hard man to find, Arthur Morgan."

The deep and clear voice gives away the mysterious figure's identity.

''Hello Charles." Arthur relaxes, his hand letting go of his gun.

Charles emerges from the woods, his horse comes trailing behind him. "Been tracking you for days... and Dutch is worried." Charles eases himself right into Arthur's space, settling down across the camp fire as if he'd belonged there to begin with. "I've been, uh, well... I'm fine, as you see." Arthur shifts in his spot. He doesn't believe that Dutch is worried about him, he's the one who said he wouldn't be sending anyone for him - Arthur kind of hoped he'd stay true to his word on that. It was hard to hope for anything other than slaughtering men and robbing innocent folk when it came to Dutch. Still, here was Charles, sitting across from him and giving him a hard stare.

"Yeah... So I see." Charles hums, thinking to himself silently, something he does a lot of.

"Why are you out here, Arthur?" The question is sharp and clear, Charles wastes no time in voicing his thoughts to Arthur. The two men have always seem to get along - although they do have differing views on doing good in the world sometimes. Unlike Charles, Arthur constantly struggles between being good and being bad. Charles, now that's a man who's naturally good. Occasionally, Arthur envies him for that.

The silence is thick and long between them, but Charles doesn't prod more. He never says more than what he deems necessary. Besides, knowing Arthur, the response will come sooner or later.

"Been busy. Tracking leads." Arthur huffs, his voice cautious. Charles seems to chuckle under his breath, he's almost amused with Arthur's answer. "Come on, Arthur, you don't have to lie to me. I'm not as foolish as the rest of them." His response makes Arthur glance sideways, as if he was expecting that answer to satisfy Charles to begin with.

It takes another moment and Arthur hums to himself, judging internally what the right move is going to be. "M' don't know. Needed to clear my head." His second response is better, closer to the truth at least. Charles nods and catches Arthur's eye. "I get that. Especially with everyone running around camp all the time, mostly to get away from Miss Grimshaw." Arthur grins, Charles isn't wrong about that.

"Yeah.. yeah. You're right about that...", Arthur trails off, going back to thinking by himself for a moment before he pitches back up again. "Camp's been real crazy lately. Feel like there's no end to all the drama." His weight shifts and Arthur's body becomes more visibly relaxed. It's in moments like this where Arthur can speak his mind, get things off his chest. "You packed a lot of stuff when you left. Why's that?"

Charles spurs him on, he's good at doing that to Arthur. Gettin' him to think and question his actions. "Y'know, Charles, it's hard. It's hard being out here, but sometimes I think it's getting harder to be back there. Being here, it feels right and I just ain't so sure about how it feels back there anymore." Arthur opens to Charles, sharing his private thoughts on the matter of him disappearing from camp.

"I ran alone for years after I left my father. Spent days sleeping in caves and living off of squirrels. I know what it's like to be out here, Arthur. It may seem easy, or easier at first, but trust me. What we've got back there, that's worth far more than anything I ever got out here." Charles' tone is sharp and almost heated, he's speaking from experience driven with a sense of what he knows is good for him, unlike Arthur.

Arthur sighs and lays back, looking up at the dark sky dotted with stars. His chest rises and falls slowly. "I know, Charles." Arthur's voice is steady, but slightly frustrated. "I know. I'm not the leaving the camp, John did that and it hurt us - for a long time too. There are people back there I care about, I know I gotta look after them the best I can. I just.. I need a few days. I gotta clear my head." Arthur repeats what he said earlier to Charles, his tone frustrated and angry and full of confusion. There's a reason Arthur keeps a journal, speaking his thoughts out loud has always been a struggle for him.

Charles relaxes as well, mimicking Arthur by laying on his back too. He doesn't respond to him and the two just lay in silence for a while.

It's Charles who sits up first. The fire crackles, low and almost burnt out. He stands up and looks at Arthur, who's staring at him from his spot on the ground. "Get some rest, Arthur, you need it." Charles comment is nonchalant as he goes to grab his stuff off of his horse. Arthur heaves himself up into a sitting position and watches as Charles starts setting down his bedroll. "What'dya doing, Charles?" Arthur's question is simple and carries no tone to it. The two seem to act as if they were simply on a camping trip together to begin with. Their conversation before fades into the night.

"I'm gonna stay the night here. Head back in the morning. No point in me rushing home since you're clearly not in jail or dead." He has a point, and in some way, Arthur knows that Charles enjoys the time out here too. He doesn't argue with the man about invading his space, just nods and gets up to go roll out his own bedroll.

"Goodnight Arthur."

"Goodnight Charles."

\--

When morning comes, Arthur is the first to rise. He cooks breakfast and is sitting by the fire drinking a cup of coffee when Charles stirs. The man sits up and groans, stretching out his arms and blinking his eyes to wake up. He stands up and shuffles over to the fire to eat breakfast with Arthur. The two don't talk, just nod their acknowledgements to each other, and their morning remains in silence. It isn't until they both finish their breakfast that Charles begins to pack up and Arthur voices himself first. "Heading back?" He questions, already knowing the answer.

Charles is throwing his stuff up on his horse as he replies, "Yeah. Best not make them wait too long." His words hang in the air, heavier than what they mean in the moment. "Mm.. yeah. If you hang out here too long, Dutch is liable to send out a pack of dogs and Miss Grimshaw after us." Charles chuckles at Arthur's answer as he mounts his horse. "I don't know about you, but I wouldn't look forward to that." Their eyes meet and the men grin at each other. The exchange of words between them is little more than empty banter, but there's a deeper understanding behind it all with them.

Charles steadies and his tone becomes more serious "So, Arthur. You coming back to camp?" His words are an offer and Arthur takes a moment to consider.

He shifts his weight back and forth on his feet, a sense of uncertainty washing over him and grounding him to his spot. He stares off for a moment while weighing his options before looking back up to Charles. "I'll be back in a few days." He answers. Arthur isn't ready to return to camp just yet, but his words are true and Charles knows that he'll be back.

"Sounds good. I'll see you in a few days then, Arthur." Charles doesn't try to change his mind, he just nods at him and says farewell as his horse moves off into the forest.

"See ya in a few days." Arthur answers back as Charles melts into the woods, as if he was a part of them himself and had never really been there to begin with.

Arthur sighs and sits back down at his camp. No, he's not quite ready, but he feels as if he'll always be like that and the least he can do is just be there. The woods may be where he belongs, but for now, Arthur's home is where Dutch is and where ever Dutch is - Arthur'll be there. The leaves crackle and Arthur looks off into the woods, just a few more days and that's all, he's just gotta clear his head.


End file.
